The wounds have healed; the scars remain - A review of Longhouse's II: Vanishing

Longhouse is a doom metal trio from Ottawa named after the type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room buildings of the Iroquois tribes. The lyrics also reference the unsettling history of the relationships between Canadian First Nations and white settlers. Title track ''Vanishing'' talks about the cruel fate of numerous vanished First Nations members, particularly women, who still get kidnapped, abused and buried in the woods as we speak. ''No Name, No Marker'' references the abuse that religious institutions made First Nations go through in order to assimilate them, dishonour their cultures and tear their families apart. The process of reconciliation has progressed in Canada over the past few years but the scars remain even after the wounds have healed. Lyrics like these are instructive, meaningful and relevant.

The music is as bleak and desperate as it needs to be in order to express the unspeakable sorrows First Nations all around the world have gone through. Longhouse plays uneasy funeral doom with thunderous guitar riffs, a steady, heavy and almost burdening rhythm section and fierce guttural vocals. The drowning darkness is at times intertwined with sorrowful psychedelic guitar effects. 

The brilliant album closer ''The Vigil'' works best in that regard and is an epic doom metal monster going beyond the ten-minute mark. Longhouse collaborated with genre colleagues Loviatar on this track. Their guitarist Shane Whitbread performs additional guitars and bleak keyboard sounds in the track's haunting finale. Loviatar's singer J.D. Gobeil adds his haunting and psychedelic mantra-like clean vocals that contrast yet harmonize the guttural performance by Josh Cayer perfectly. It's great to see that Ottawa's small but impressive doom metal scene is so tight-knit.

Longhouse's debut record Earth from Water was already gripping but its second output Vanishing is a great leap forward. The drum sound has improved, the song writing has become more ambitious and the vocals sound grittier than before. In addition to this, the lyrics are haunting and inspiring. This album was even nominated for a Juno Award, the Canadian price for outstanding achievements in the record industry. Give this band and especially this particular album a chance.

Final rating: 90%